“They still should have told us.”
“What did she say, little bird?” Piers asks, looking pale and a little sick.
I shrug one shoulder. “It felt a little like I was in a K-drama facing down the matriarch of the family.”
“What did she say?” Thayer asks again, likely because he can tell I’m avoiding giving details. That’s solidified when he uses his professor voice and drawls. “Specifically.”
I huff. “Well, fine. She offered me three million dollars to leave you.”
“She did what?” Forsythe’s voice is low and harsh and makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Not necessarily in a bad way, since I know he would never get violent with me, but he’s definitely feeling… violent.
And my omega apparently likes that.
“I turned her down, obviously.”
“Why is that obvious?” Thayer is apparently my interrogator for the night.
“I mean, I’m still here, aren’t I?”
He nods slowly and they all relax just slightly.
“What else?” Forsythe asks.
I look at him as Grieves tries to pull me closer to him. The prince has a dangerous glint in his eye, one I’ve never seen before. It makes me snap my mouth closed in trepidation. Again, I’m not worried he’s going to hurt me, but… what will he do to his grandmother?
“Cor mea, please,” he says, softening his tone just for me. “Please. I know she wouldn’t have left until she got you to agree to leave us, to leave me. So what else did she say?”
I glance over at Court sitting next to Grieves and I. He’s watching me with that same glint that Forsythe has, like he’s ready to rip the world apart just for me.
I still hesitate. I don’t want any of them to do anything they’ll regret, but I also don’t want to lie to them. “She um… she barked at me to go home.”
“She did what?” Grieves growls into my hair.
“She barked at me to go home,” I repeat calmly and then straighten my shoulders proudly. “It didn’t take. I was ableto find a way around it. And once I did, it felt—feels—more annoying than anything.” I tilt my head and consider. “I finally realize how Haven was able to work around her father for all those years.”
Court mutters something under his breath, but then he’s leaning forward, pressing a kiss to my lips, apparently no longer worried about ruining my lipstick. “Proud of you, Pixie. That must have been hard.”
I nod and give him a small smile. “It was, but I did it, Court. I survived it.”
“‘Course you did, bubbles. You’re strong as bloody hell.” That pride in my chest swells and blooms at Grieves’ gruff words. I glance across the car to where the other three are sitting, watching me with varying degrees of pride and anger on their faces.
“She left when she thought her command would be obeyed. But honestly, it wasn’t even that well thought out of a bark. She said, ‘leave the pack and go home, Florence.’ But the only part she put any dominance behind was the ‘go home’ part. Which was easy to find a way around. And even if she’d barked the whole thing I could have just… left for an hour and then come back.” I’m blabbering now, filling the space to try to sooth their anger. “She really should have thought it through a bit more, you know? Leave my grandson’s pack forever and go home and stay-”
“Why was it so easy for you to find a work around when she told you to go home, killer?” Thayer’s voice cuts through my rambling, slicing to the core of what I’d said with the precision of a surgeon.
My mouth snaps shut. “Oh, uh. Well, remember back on the show when I told you—told everyone really— that my favorite smell was home? It still is, it’s just that what home smells like has changed.”
“What does it smell like now, sunshine?”
I smile at Piers, already beaming at me like he knows. “Well it smells an awful lot like the interior of this car. The six of us all blended together.”
“So,” Forsythe drawls, leaning forward to brace his elbow on his knees as he watches me intently. “She barked at you to go home, and you didn’t have to go anywhere…”
“Because home is here, with you,” I finish for him, knowing that they need to hear it. “Wherever you are, is where I want to be.”
Court groans and makes grabby hands at me. “Fuck. Come here, Pixie. I need a cuddle after that.” Grieves growls at him and clutching me like a child with their favorite stuffy. “Hey, mate, you need to share our omega. You can’t just hoard her for yourself.”
“Watch me,” Grieves mutters but he releases me at the same time, albeit reluctantly, dragging his palms over the fabric of my dress. I turn and press a kiss to his mouth, soft and sweet. And then slide over to Court, who hauls me onto his lap sideways and buries his face in my neck. “I’m sorry that happened, Pix. I know how hard it is for you to be barked at.”
